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Daily Archives: June 1, 2012

Appeals Court Set Review Period for Government Nuclear Waste Fees Collection

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Follow up to previous postings on Yucca Mountain, this decision on June 1, 2012 from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, No. 11-1066, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners v. United States Department of Energy, Consolidated with 11-1068 On Petitions for Review of Final Actions of the Department of Energy:

  • “Opinion for the Court filed by Senior Circuit Judge Silberman: “Petitioners, nuclear power plant owners and operators, ask us to review a November 2010 determination by the Secretary of Energy finding that there was no basis for suspending, or otherwise adjusting, annual fees collected from them totaling some $750 million a year. Those fees are intended to cover the full costs of the government’s long-term disposal of civilian nuclear waste. But the Administration has discontinued development of Yucca Mountain, which was the designated location for the disposal of the waste. According to petitioners, the Secretary’s 2010 determination, made subsequent to that decision, failed to examine (or even mention) the anticipated costs of disposal, or compare them to expected revenues from the fees (and associated interest and investment income). The Secretary’s determination is claimed, thereby, to have violated the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act (“the Act”), which obliges the Secretary to annually “evaluate whether collection of the fee will provide sufficient revenues” to offset program costs. In the absence of such evaluation, it is argued, the determination was invalid, and because no future program has replaced Yucca Mountain, petitioners contend that the Secretary is obliged to suspend the fees and report his action to Congress…It is appropriate for us simply to declare that the Secretary’s determination is legally defective and to remand. However, we are mindful that petitioners were obliged to first file suit in October 2010, in light of the Secretary’s failure to conduct any fee adequacy determination since FY 2008. It was only after initial briefing was submitted that the Secretary issued his 2010 determination, thereby rendering the initial case moot. In light of that Departmental disposition to delay, we will order the Secretary to respond to the remand within six months of the issuance of the mandate and this panel will retain jurisdiction.”

    • Pew Survey – Twitter Use 2012

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    Twitter Use 2012: Findings – “Some 15% of online adults use Twitter as of February 2012, and 8% do so on a typical day. Although overall Twitter usage has nearly doubled since the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project first asked a stand-alone Twitter question in November 2010, the 15% of online adults… Continue Reading

    Research Paper – Homeownership and Entrepreneurship

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    Homeownership and Entrepreneurship – This work is part of the research programme of the independent UK Spatial Economics Research Centre funded by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) and the Welsh Assembly Government. Philippe Bracke, Christian Hilber, Olmo Silva, April 2012 “We study the… Continue Reading

    Public Networks for Public Safety: A Workshop on the Present and Future of Mesh Networking

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    “The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is pleased to present this briefing document, which was developed as part of our March 30th, 2012, workshop on “Public Networks for Public Safety: A Workshop on the Present and Future of Mesh Networking.” This workshop provided a starting point for conversation about whether mesh networks could be… Continue Reading

    Judge Chin Issues Opinion in Favor of Class Action Against Google Book Search

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    Follow up to previous postings on the Google Book Search project litigation, this posting via The Public Index Blog, Class Certification Granted, by James Grimmelmann [Thursday, May 31, 2012] “Today, Judge Chin issued an opinion granting class certification. The Authors Guild lawsuit will proceed as a class action on behalf of: All persons residing in… Continue Reading